Not Your Usual Founding Father: Selected Readings from Benjamin FranklinThis engaging book reveals Benjamin Franklin’s human side—his tastes and habits, his enthusiasms, and his devotion to democracy and the people of the United States. Three hundred years after his birth, we may remember Franklin’s famous Autobiography, or his status as framer of the Declaration of Independence and the peace with Great Britain, or his experiments in electricity, or perhaps his sage advice on diligence and thrift. But historian Edmund S. Morgan invites us to meet the man himself, a sociable, good-natured, and extraordinary human being with boundless curiosity about the natural world and a vision of what America could be. Drawing on lifelong research in the vast Franklin archives, Morgan assembles both famous and lesser-known writings that offer insights into this founding father’s thinking. The book is organized around four major themes, each with an introduction. The first section includes journal excerpts and letters revealing Franklin’s personal tastes and habits. The second is devoted to Franklin’s inexhaustible intellectual energy and his scientific discoveries. The third and fourth chronicle his devotion to serving the people who became the United States both before and after the Revolution and to advancing his democratic vision of their future. Franklin’s humanity and genius have never seemed more real than in the pages of this appealing anthology. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 24
Page 9
... live and die a villain, and yet conceal it so well as to carry the name of an honest fellow to the grave with him, but some one by some accident or other shall discover him. Truth and sincerity have a certain distinguishing native ...
... live and die a villain, and yet conceal it so well as to carry the name of an honest fellow to the grave with him, but some one by some accident or other shall discover him. Truth and sincerity have a certain distinguishing native ...
Page 16
... live, confined and stifled up with such a lousy stinking rabble in this sultry latitude. . . . Wednesday, September 28 We had very variable winds and weather last night, accompanied with abundance of rain; and now the wind is come about ...
... live, confined and stifled up with such a lousy stinking rabble in this sultry latitude. . . . Wednesday, September 28 We had very variable winds and weather last night, accompanied with abundance of rain; and now the wind is come about ...
Page 19
... live till you die without either . But I doubt the Author of the Epitaph you send me was a little mistaken , when he speaking of the World , he says that he ne'er car'd a pin, What they said or may THE YOUNG MAN AND THE OLD MAN [ 19 ]
... live till you die without either . But I doubt the Author of the Epitaph you send me was a little mistaken , when he speaking of the World , he says that he ne'er car'd a pin, What they said or may THE YOUNG MAN AND THE OLD MAN [ 19 ]
Page 32
... live these 100 Years ; for we are grown old together , and if she has any faults , I am so us'd to ' em that I don't perceive ' em , as the Song says , Some Faults we have all , and so may my Joan , But then they're exceedingly small ...
... live these 100 Years ; for we are grown old together , and if she has any faults , I am so us'd to ' em that I don't perceive ' em , as the Song says , Some Faults we have all , and so may my Joan , But then they're exceedingly small ...
Page 34
... live sparingly a Day or two before hand . The Sickness , if any , will be the lighter and sooner over . We got to Calais that Evening . Various Impositions we suffer'd from Boat - men , Porters , & c . on both Sides the Water . I know ...
... live sparingly a Day or two before hand . The Sickness , if any , will be the lighter and sooner over . We got to Calais that Evening . Various Impositions we suffer'd from Boat - men , Porters , & c . on both Sides the Water . I know ...
Contents
1 | |
Part II Nature observed | 67 |
Part III A continental vision | 141 |
Part IV War peace and humanity | 219 |
Chronology | 289 |
Credits | 291 |
Index | 297 |
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